Travel Guides

Rorke's Drift

Fought on the same day as the nearby battle at Isandlwana Hill,
the Battle of Rorke's Drift is remembered as one of the most famous
sieges of the Anglo-Zulu War. Survivors from Isandlwana fled to the
Swedish mission station that was used as a British field hospital
and storehouse, and sounded the alarm.

Inside, the 139 men, many of them ill or wounded, barricaded
themselves in and prepared for the onslaught of 4,000 Zulu
warriors. The Battle Museum dramatically tells the tale of the
'Heroic Hundred' who desperately defended the station for 12 hours,
until the Zulus finally retreated with a heavy loss of life.

Seventeen British soldiers and about 500 Zulu attackers were
killed in the siege. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the
defenders, not the most ever given at any battle in British
history, as is often claimed, but a prestigious honour nonetheless,
and the most ever awarded to one regiment in a single action.

It is generally thought that although the courage of the
defenders warranted recognition, the awards were also made to
distract public opinion from the disastrous British defeat at
Isandlwana. Interestingly, just before the Zulus arrived, a number
of defenders fled Rorke's Drift and those remaining were so angry
at the desertion that they shot after their own men, killing a
corporal.